Category: Business

A logo is a sensitive symbol of our causes and businesses/organisations. Most of the time they communicate our character in the market, so they are subjective.

In this article, I would like to share one important consideration for anyone planing to make a logo by themselves or order one from professional graphics designers. The critical part of the logo today is ease of use on numerous devices and technologies.

Some years ago that flexibility wasn’t much of a requirement because logos could be mostly shipped on print media.

Technology growth is quickly changing that. In that a logo should now be produced in various versions characterized by dimension and color.

Therefore a new logo or even a old but revised one should at least have three basic versions:- the standard version, alternative version and mobile version.

The standard version

This version is what you are likely to get if you design a logo for yourself or even from a professional designer who doesn’t care much about the other versions.

Pros

It is in full color.

It is big enough(dimension) which makes it good for any print.

Cons

It may not work well on small devices like mobile phones, tablets and websites.

The alternative version

As much as it’s important, this version is usually ignored by many logo owners. It is also called the negative or grey scale logo.

Pros

It comes at a dimension of the standard logo though in monochrome.

Being monochrome it can be used in most of the partners’ media especially the mobile, web applications and websites.

Cons

Since it’s monochrome, it can’t be used anywhere if your logo originally comes in more than one color.

Mobile version

The mobile version is a small logo in terms of dimension(width and height) made in both full color and monochrome. It is an important logo for mobile applications and websites. If the standard logo is complex i.e has many symbols which may not be visible shrink mode, effort should be taken to remove some of those symbols in this version.

Pros

It will fit and represent the brand on the widely used devices today.

It is good to be used as an icon, for a mobile application and website fav icon.

Cons

It is not good for print media.

Bonus: It is good discipline to always have the original editable versions of the logo and any graphic for your brand. Without them flexibility is not paramount as you stand a high chance of color and dimension inconsistency in the future publications.

Many of them think the money spent in school and the bachelors/masters accolade is a guarantee to a job. What a lie?

Time, skill, market, labor & ideas are the value one has to offer to an employer or business partner in exchange for a job opportunity. How many Ugandan graduates posses the above?

If you don’t know the fact, most of the jobs created are by younger people or age mates who don’t have access to free first hand business information, mentor-ship and interest free business funds!

Yet once created, there is need to formalize, attracting hefty bills for Tax, Trading Licenses, Rent fees, Marketing fees etc… even before a business acquires the necessary tools and team for production.

Well, this works against a Ugandan graduate’s dream of wanting to drive like others do, wear expensive clothes, go to bars etc… which incites the habit of undermining jobs.

The Ugandan government has a great role to play as well. It should saws in it’s citizens than milking them. They’re many times when professional graduates have turned to informal business due to lack of job opportunities but they’re energy, plans and passion has been destroyed by exclusive leadership and decision making.

Take for example sanctioning hawkers off Kampala streets, it’s a great move because it’s a way of supporting the businessman in a shop but the timing was totally wrong. You don’t take such a move without first informing the public and the alternative solution you’re offering.

Building myself as an entrepreneur I juggled between freelance and employment. During the time until mid 2015 the market pulled me into and I virtually identified myself as an Information Technology expert than what I truly desired to be since 2003.

You see I wanted to code and develop solutions which could help me especially. I never owned a PlayStation yet kids next door did, my playing time was boring most of the time. Such incited the desire to be creative. Later spent every penny in the internet cafes for years to learn this thing called software development.

All the way, developed desire to make money, so I instead of going at it through coding looked for the simplest way possible. I went into troubleshooting computers and setting up internet cafes. As this brought in some money, it positioned me more into the I.T arena than giving than coding. Much as had lots of ideas flowing in my blood, couldn’t find the courage to start or pick up where I left off.

When you want to be something, it’s good to discover the way you want to do it and fall that. If you don’t you are most likely to do it just like anyone else. Will this bring you happiness?

As for me solving problems through coding will be my first method, even if I run away it will always haunt me.

If anyone wants freedom or is pursuing happiness my recommendation is to try and spare sometime to discover yourself. Try so much to become as much self aware as possible so that if anyone has to tell you something they know or are observing about you, you don’t feel offended and surprised. Because you entirely know where it begins and ends.

For many coders, there is pain on start and during debugging phase but that pain has never compared to the happiness that comes at launch of our system.

If you’ve never gone through any self-awareness program, start now. Don’t let fears and thoughts like discovering the opposite that you want something or you who someone else than you’ve known. The magic here is that you will know yourself more than anyone knows you and you can now continue on your journey taking the right direction. I got a chance to attend Unleash dreams in 2016 co-found by David Reeve. One of the sessions Christine taught us about the life ecosystem, it’s my center of reflection since then.

Many of us from East Africa start up businesses on the principle of results. I want to have some income, I want to be respected, I want to feed my family or I want to be called so and so. As if our sales will be automatic which in reality it can never be. What if we pulled plug on Why and What principles?

Embracing “Why” when involving in any business puts us in pole position to succeed since it pushes one to look at the realistic bit of things.

Why is the attraction of How, What, Where and When.

Without one is set to running a business by default as opposed to design. The most successful business people in the world observe it. Take for example, facebook. Mark Zuckerberg had to ask why start facebook.com, How will it work and help in daily life, Where will facebook used (Who will use facebook) and When.

Whatever answers, he got must be the reason why we use this platform everyday, everywhere and everyone virtually uses it.

Embracing “What” helps you define an idea (business) or be part of something. This definition is also the reason why others come on board.

Of course Why defines the purpose for what a solution is created but not everyone will comprehend the why, this is when the What will come to help the people you are talking to understand.

The easier it is for them to understand, the easier it is for them to work with you.

Hey Everyone!Yes I know I deserve some spanking for having such a long haitus, and will turn around for it as soon as I finish typing this, I promise [fingers crossed at my back].I just had to share this great find - I have not seen words of wisdom for Startups and Aspiring Entreprenuers this brief and to the point yet.

Its about Fab.com, and their instant success since starting 130 days ago [yes you read right!]. They presently have 750,000 members and 3 million hits on their site per month [I just added to that list, so make it 3 million and 1]. And most importantly, they have $100,000 sales days - very important to the Nigerian Entrepreneur I am sure!They share a set of slides for us to learn the major 21 things they have learnt so far, that keeps them growing.I am sure my Entrepreneur friends and family members will appreciate this.Please take the time to read through - its just 21 points after all :)Click this sentence

Hey Everyone!Yes I know I deserve some spanking for having such a long haitus, and will turn around for it as soon as I finish typing this, I promise [fingers crossed at my back].I just had to share this great find - I have not seen words of wisdom for Startups and Aspiring Entreprenuers this brief and to the point yet.

Its about Fab.com, and their instant success since starting 130 days ago [yes you read right!]. They presently have 750,000 members and 3 million hits on their site per month [I just added to that list, so make it 3 million and 1]. And most importantly, they have $100,000 sales days - very important to the Nigerian Entrepreneur I am sure!They share a set of slides for us to learn the major 21 things they have learnt so far, that keeps them growing.I am sure my Entrepreneur friends and family members will appreciate this.Please take the time to read through - its just 21 points after all :)Click this sentence